Kings News

Linked Up - April 10

''We are, of course, professionals, and we plan for every contingency but that wasn’t one of them,’’ Shane Smith, a marketing executive who helped run the contest, said Friday. ''We had a backup plan. We just never seriously thought that we’d need to use it.’’

“It’s a balmy 36 degrees in Winnipeg on Thursday night according to Weather.com. Which of course means, it’s warm enough to party Winnipeg’s first playoff berth since moving to Manitoba in 2011! Winnipeg lost 1-0 to Colorado in a shootout, but clinched based off Calgary's regulation win over Los Angeles. Canada helping Canada. Nice.”

“Go to any sporting event and you're bound to hear all sorts of "pump-up" music before, during and after the game. The Nationals are flipping the script at home games, but only during the opponent's batting practice.”

“Which will make for the most intriguing storyline of this Yankees season: the team’s reported refusal to pay out the contractual bonuses it promised Rodriguez for passing baseball’s home run leaders. With last night’s, Rodriguez is just five homers behind Willie Mays for fourth all-time, and with that, a guaranteed $6 million bonus.”

“We’re not even a week into the 2015 baseball season, but I feel confident saying that it’s going to be very hard for any outfielder to make a catch this season that will top what White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton did today.”

“But the Kings will take the ice on Saturday afternoon vying to win one more game in front of a fanbase that it has shared previously incomprehensible highs with during a three-year zenith. I hope you’ll be there to recognize that and to properly send off this team and several players with respect whose status beyond July 1 could be that of alumni. They deserve it.”

“In its annual NHL season simulation released Wednesday, EA Sports predicts the defending-champion Los Angeles Kings will defeat the Boston Bruins in six games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final for their second straight championship and third in the past four seasons, giving the NHL its first bona fide dynasty in more than a decade.”

“After a disastrous opening night that saw fans peeing in cups to avoid enormous lines for the bathroom, the Cubs hauled in portable toilets in an effort to remedy the situation for future games. They didn’t get to try them out, however, because the club skipped their second game Tuesday night, postponing it due to possible rain. What a coincidence!”